God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. (Acts 2:32)
It was the biggest passenger airliner ever built. First taking flight in April 2005, this feat of engineering could hold a total capacity of 853 passengers. With a cockpit crew of three and a full cabin crew of twenty-one, the aircraft was a marvel to behold and to fly on. It is now extinct. A global pandemic and economic realities doomed the massive four-engine Airbus behemoth and its chief competitor, the Boeing 747.
The central core of these flying giants was the flight deck. Without the three-person flight crew, the plane was just an attractive piece of aluminum, wires, gauges, and the like. It was the three up front that made her fly.
With the church, it is the three up front that make her fly—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Without them, the church is reduced to buildings, programs, activities, and the like. One of the three had been on the greatest history-changing mission of all time. To the casual observer, that mission seemed to have collapsed on Friday. But Sunday came. Jesus arose in amazing victory.
Following the resurrection, the Three Up Front were reunited in a new, powerfully dynamic way. The Central Core of creation was never to be extinct. Pandemics would not stop them. Economics would not overpower them. Jesus the Christ is alive forevermore. Amen!
Return to the Core of your salvation.
H. C. Wilson is General Superintendent Emeritus of The Wesleyan Church.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.